Checks, traveler's checks, and money orders are well known popular methods of payment in retail sales. A check is convenient for the customer to access available funds without carrying cash. In addition, merchants who accept checks increase their revenues because a transaction with checks do not come with the expense of a percentage of the sale going to a credit card company such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express.
However, it is also well known that customers and merchants are victims of check fraud and identity theft on a daily basis. Both check fraud and identity theft may be significantly reduced if the person signing the check is accurately determined to be the person authorized to do so, as well as if the account holder's personal information is not disclosed on the face of the check and/or the account information is kept from being disclosed in a visually decipherable form. Unfortunately, the prior art checks all have personal information typed upon the face of the check including the name, address and phone number of the check writer, as well as the account number, routing number and check number and therefore this information cannot be asked of the check writer nor used as a security measure. Moreover, open use of this personally identifying and account information upon the face of the check affords would-be fraudulent users with unchecked access to key information about the check writer and the account. Left unprotected, this information could be compromised by employees of the store, the merchant, the account holder's bank, the mailing service, the trash service, would-be thieves and finders alike, including other interested on-looking eyes. Such availment at all levels of the check writer's personal and account information ultimately lends to the possibility of fraud and/or identity theft.
With the advent of personal banking computer programs and the increasing availability of check printing programs, little information is needed to create and print fraudulent negotiable instruments, prepare false deposit slips and other forms of identity theft. Unfortunately, the information that should be protected from immediate view in the prior art checks is left fully exposed for those farming for information to harvest and use. In fact, the prior art checks offer little or no resistance, deterrence or prevention of fraud or identity theft to even the would-be casual observer, not to mention the hardened criminal.
Accordingly, an objective of the present invention is to hide personal and account information from the face of the check and to replace it with a bar code that hides the information from a would-be fraudulent check writer and/or identity theft, but still permits a merchant who is validating the negotiable instrument to access the information, but not necessarily without an additional PIN or password entered or spoken by the person professing to be the account holder.
A negotiable instrument having little or no personal and account information immediately visible to an observer would better insulate the store owner, store employees, issuing bank and others from claims of fraud or identity theft. The prior art checks do not put the owner, store employees, issuing bank and others in the best possible position to identify a would-be fraudulent check user or identity theft.
Therefore, an objective of the present invention it to provide those entrusted with the care of a negotiable instrument with the best possible mechanisms to recognize a fraudulent check user and/or identity theft, as well as to prevent the fraudulent use and proliferation of these negotiable instruments in commerce.
A negotiable instrument should also put would-be fraudulent users or identity thieves on notice that the negotiable instrument and the associated account is a fraud and identity theft resistant account. The checks in the prior art do not necessarily have the appropriate mechanisms in place to thwart off would-be fraudulent use or theft of identity.
Accordingly, another feature of the present invention is the inclusion of an ID Theft Protection Hotline telephone number, in addition to the use of bar codes, to act as a further deterrent for discouraging someone from actually attempting to use the check and/or comprising any uncoded information presented on the face of the check.
Still another feature of the present invention is the inclusion of an ID Theft Protection Hotline telephone number effectively located near the bar code to provide the merchant, the actual check owner and/or the would-be finder of the lost checks with a quick reference number to the bank to inform the bank that the checks have been lost or stolen.
Bar codes have been used on checks in the prior art to store information on pre-printed checks. For example, U.S. patent application 2002/0065771A1 to Dutta discloses bar codes used to store an account number. However, this feature does not both contribute to the security of the check writer while acting as a deterrent to identity theft, but is primarily an aid in assisting commerce. It does not include the combination of valuable information about the user, including their name, address, telephone number, and/or any other personally identifying information.
In addition, some bar codes have been placed upon checks with the same bar code as on a drivers license number as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,226 to Steiger. However, this driver's license code only provides the drivers license number, not any personally identifying information that could be readily asked of the check writer such as their name, home address, or telephone number.
Bar codes in the prior art are either two-dimensional (2-D) or one-dimensional (1-D). U.S. Pat. No. 6,575,362 issued to Bator employs a system which uses a 2-D bar code which is printed (not pre-printed) upon a money order which includes information about the money order request, authorization code, and printed information on the money order coupon. Bator uses a technique to generate the label in accordance with the techniques disclosed in Berson U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,158. As described in Berson, a 2-D bar code can currently hold up to 1,800 characters in the area of a postage stamp and may be used to store graphic information. In contrast, 1-D bar codes hold far fewer characters and are used only for alphanumeric characters, namely a decimal digit or a letter. Bator teaches a method of creating a security label, however, the security label is printed after the checks are formed or the money order written and includes information that could not be accurately anticipated at the time the checks were initially printed. In summary, Bator does not solve the problems associated with check fraud identity validation at the time of writing the check. Therefore, a further objective of the present invention is to include a bar code which utilizes a two dimensional bar code which provides meaningful information, probative of theft identification, to the merchant regarding the name, telephone number, address, and photo I.D. of the user.
A still further feature of the present invention is the inclusion of a bar code on the pre-printed checks which deters people from writing fraudulent checks. Bar codes are generally well known to contain information that is imperceptible to the human observer. The upper left hand corner of the check is a typical area used for personal identification information. Accordingly, a still further feature of the present invention is to effectively locate the bar code to maximize the deterrence effect upon the fraudulent check writer and put the check writer on notice that personal identification information is stored within the bar code.
Finally, a still further objective of the present invention is the inclusion of a bar code on the pre-printed checks, which encrypts the account number, routing number and check number, including name, address, phone number, signature and picture identification of the account holder leaving the face of the negotiable instrument void of all sensitive information. The decryption of the bar code occurring at the point and time of transaction, but not before the account holder enters a security code or PIN number to allow the merchant to access and view the encrypted information. The encrypted bar code insures that the merchant and the would-be fraudulent user or identity theft would not be able to comprise the sensitive information presented on the face of check. The encrypted bar code would also allow the actual account holder to insure that access to the information was only for personal identification purposes before the merchant accepts the negotiable instrument as tender. The sensitive account holder information would only be visible during the transaction to insure the information was not comprised after the transaction. The professed account holder could contact the I.D. Theft Hotline if the account holder is unable to remember his or her PIN or security code during the checkout process. Moreover, the merchant never has access to the security code or PIN number to decrypt the bar code and gain access to the account holder's personal information because the PIN or security code is entered by the account holder hidden from the view of the merchant and other casual observers. If in fact the professed account holder were unable to verify his or her identity, the merchant would be able telephone the I.D. Theft Hotline to notify the issuing bank of the possibility of the account and checks being lost, stolen or fraudulently used. Upon the account holder entering an accepted PIN or security code the account information is displayed and viewable only to the merchant who then verifies the listed information with personally identifying information provided by the account holder. The actual account holder, after successfully entering the correct PIN or security code and the merchant verifying the account information, can then inquire of the merchant regarding the decrypted information for such things as the check number.
Checks are often used to provide payment for services or goods where the check writer is not present, but rather sends a signed check to the payee through the mail. In this regard, checks have become a safer form of payment over cash. However, checks are still at risk of being fraudulently comprised or having personally identifying information taken while in transit or processing.
Accordingly, another objective of the present invention is to provide a check having no personally identifying information on its face, except for the account holder's signature and a PIN number or security code written on the signature line of the check. Carbon copy checks have security measures built into the signature line to keep the PIN number and the account holder's signature hidden from view. Thus, the account holder is able to use prior art checks having carbon copy records while keeping the PIN number or security code hidden from view. The PIN number or security code would be used to verify the identity of the check writer and the signature to authenticate the check. The PIN number or security code would allow the merchant to process the check in the physical absence of the check writer, after verifying the check writer's identity. For example, the merchant would receive the check and scan the bar code of the check. The computer system would ask the merchant to enter a PIN number or security code to derive the account holder's personal identification information contained within the bar code. The merchant would then enter the PIN number or security code written on the signature line. The merchant's computer system would then read the bar code and display the account holder's personally identifying information, the bank account number, bank routing number and check number. Using this information, the merchant would be able to positively verify that the check writer and the account holder are the same individuals, as well as process and post the check using the account number, bank routing number and check number. Someone trying to fraudulently use the checks would not have access to the PIN number or security code associated with the account and therefore would not have access to the account holder's personal information. Thus, the check would-be rendered useless for being used fraudulently or for identity theft. To accommodate the varying uses of a check, multiple PIN numbers or security codes could be associated with the account. One PIN number or security code could be used for transactions when the account holder is physically present and another PIN number or security code for transactions when the account holder is not physically present at the point and time of the transaction. Having a separate PIN number or security code for mailing checks as opposed to the account holder being physically present at the point and time of the transaction would further frustrate would-be identity thefts and fraudulent use of checks. For example, if a thief were to steal the account holder's checks they would not be able to use them even if they had somehow compromised the PIN number or security code associated with account. At the point and time of transaction, the thief would be able to provide the PIN number or security code associated with the account but would not have foreknowledge of the account holder's personally identifying information. In the event the thief uses the check through the mail, the PIN number or security code associated with the account would only work if the account holder were physically present. Thus, the account provides both the account holder and the merchant with mechanisms to prevent fraudulent use of the account or identity theft.
The method and check with fraud and identity theft protection for accomplishing these and/or other objectives and features of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description which follows.